Horatio b



@uiten tetra strnt ffirr.

Letters' Patent No. 81,976, dated September 8, l1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN STEAM SAFETY-VALVES.

tlgt tlgthnle nitriet tu in their ttttttlaimt tmb making part nf tige time.

To ALL WHoM 1r MAY ooNoEnN;

Be it known that I, HoRATIo B. BECKMAN, of Newburg, in the county of Orange, and State of New York, have invented a new Improvement on Safety-Valves for Steam-Boilers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. l

The nature 4of my invention consists in providing the safetyvalve with one or more elliptical springs, standing upright on top of the safety-valve, with their lower ends in grooves on the upward side Vot' the valve, the upper en'ds being kept in their places by a. disk, which has corresponding grooves cut out on its lower face for their reception. By means of stud-bolts and nuts, this upper disk'can be screwed down or up, td regulate lthe spring-power of those springs, they being the stiier, the straighter they are, and the combined resistance of these springs on the safety-valve against pressure from the bottom side of the safety-valve can be so regulated as to balance the pressure from below, and allow the safety-valve to open as soon as the highest pressure is arrived at allowed to be carried in the steam-boiler to which the valve is attached. The elasticity of the springsV also allows the valve to open high enough to give the required. opening, corresponding to the area of the safety-valve.

The use oi' elliptical springshas the advantage over spiral springs `for this reason, that. they do not press with more .power on the safety-valve when it is open than at 'the moment it is going to open. Spiral springs, being compressed, work harder, and the pressure below the valve must increase to open the valve high enough to the full area of the safety-valve. The .elliptical springs work'with nearly equal pressure during the time the valve is open and when it is shut.

At diierent trials, these elliptical springs let the valve open always at the same amount of pressure, they having been -bent more or less; and` when they were bent until they broke, shortly before they broke they let the valve open at the same height of pressure as when they were only bent the least,vv to give them the outward direction to bend. Y

To protect the springs from beingbroken by opening the valve too high, the stem of the valve is guided on its upper end in a corresponding opening in the top of the cover, which allows free opening to the valve to thesrequired height, but which arrests the further opening, and relieves the springs from over-pressure. The valve can be lifted by hand, by means oi' a lever fastened in the outside shell of the valve-chamber,but the valve cannot be pressed down by any outside power. Y

This safety-valve is so arranged as to make it a lock-up valve. The outside shell covers' the whole valve and chamber, and is fastened by a latch to the lower, part of the safety-valve chamber, and securely locked. No access can be had to the valve by the way of the escape-pipe, as this pipo is cast-on the outside shell, and separated from the valve-chamber by a solid wall, which is perforated only on the opposite side of the escape-pipe notzle, to let the steam escape through the narrow space between the valve-chamber and the outsidecover.

Figure l shows a vertical longitudinal section through the centre of the valve-,chamber and the valve.

Figure 2 represents a transverse section of the upper part of the outside case.

Figure 3 is a cross-section of the lower part of the valve-chamber and outside case.

A is the safety-valve. B, the valve-stein, which has attached to it a slotted piece, H, for the reception of the one arm of the lever L L2, to lift the valve from outside.

D is the valve-chamber, which `fis perforated by some holes above the valve, for the escapefof the steam through its side in thcannular space around the chamber D', and through the escape-pipe R. On the upper 'n suitable bosses in its circumference, are fastened studs P1 P2, which keep in its ds of the springs sl s2, the lower ends top of the safety-valve. By means oi the studs P1 P2 and plate C, these springs E the springs on the valve, to balance the pressure on part of the valve-chamber, 1 place a plate,'C, which, with corresponding grooves, rests on the upper en of which stand in grooves on s s?) can be bent more or less to regulate the pressure o the valve from below to a certain point.

Vsuflcent to let the valve lift enough to give sufficient area The outer ease E E covers the whole valve-chamber, and leaves an annular spa'c'e between its inner side and the outside of the valve-chamber D', for the escaping steam to pass out the escape-pipe R. A joint is made between those two chambers, near the bottom, by ascrew-joint, or in any other way. An eye, K, is cast on the outer case E, which, in connection with the latch M and lug' N, serves to secure the outer case E to the inner chamber D', by means of ya padlock through the eye K, so that the outer case E cannot be removed without taking o the padlock, and any other access to the valve is made impossible.

The lever Ll L L2 has its fulcrum in-the shellof the outer case F, and serves to lift the valve A by hand .at any time from outside, but it is so arranged that the' point, L, cannot press on the valve-stem to keep the valve down.

In the top p art, G, of the case F, is a cylindrical hole, for the guidance of the stem H, and is of a. depth for the stealn toescape,vbut it arrests the valve at that point, and prevents the breaking of the springshy too muchbending.

What I claim as my invention, and like to secure bylLetters Patent, is-

The arrangeien't of the safety-valve A, adjustable elliptical springs sls and plate C, substantially as herein specified.

Witnesses:

ALEx'n CAULDWELL, JNO. F.l Brugman HORATIO B. BECKMAN. 

